Elimination Communication?

[Butter is Better]

Can anyone give me the basics on Elimination Communication?

[meesh933]

There's a forum on here somewhere, but I never really found it that helpful. I read "The Diaper Free Baby." It's got a lot of great information, but we didn't have a whole lote of success with DS. (I didn't put a huge amount of effort into it, to be fair.) I did do sort of a late EC/early potty learning with my DD, and she was out of diapers completely at 22 months old.

Sorry, that's not really all that useful, I guess.

[Breed210]

The forum: http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/list/227/elimination-communication

[Jaimee]

EC is awesome!!  The EC forum doesn't get a ton of traffic.  I've had posts sit there unanswered for weeks.  There is a better EC forum on www.diaperswappers.com that you might want to check out.  Also I got a lot of useful info (to share with skeptics) and tips (how to start, terminology, FAQ's, etc.) from the diaperfreebaby site.  Click on the links under "Practicing EC" to gather initial info and get started.  The 75 Benefits of EC link is especially helpful for understanding WHY you might want to pursue EC if you were on the fence.

Aside from these resources here are some other tidbits you might find helpful:

• EC is easiest if you do it from an early age, but it does take some effort to get going and I think it's important to prioritize during those early weeks.  So if you're facing any other issues like breastfeeding complications, difficult tear healing, PPD, etc. you can put it off and start later.
• My favorite potty is the $4 potty from Ikea.  I've heard good things about the little Baby Bjorn potty as well.  I never had luck holding baby over a bowl, the toilet or the sink.
• You may go through MORE diapers when you're first getting going b/c you're offering the potty and changing baby so much more often that you notice the tiniest bit of wetness on the diapers.
• It can take a while to learn baby's cues and have baby actually cue you.  Some babies never really make it to that point until they are learning to sign and speak anyway.  Pottying by timing or when baby is obviously grunting has always been my best bet.
• You can part time EC... it doesn't have to be all the time.  So you can potty at home, but not bother out and about.  Or potty during the day and not bother at night.  You can just follow what works best for you and baby.  My ds is actually best at EC at night.  It's what got us started- he refused to pee in his diaper at night and would just squirm and moan for hours.  I finally figured it out and once I put him on the potty he would pee immediately and fall back asleep directly after.
• Babies/toddlers will often have "potty strikes" where they refuse to use the potty, throw tantrums about the potty, or simply are too busy to make EC really work.  This is normal and they pass sometimes in a  matter of days (if it was illness related) or weeks (if it was teething or milestone related) or it could take months (this is more common of toddlers).  My ds was great at using the potty from 4 months of age until around 13 months.  Then it was sporadic.  And then it almost stopped completely.  Suddenly in the last week he's really made great strides and I can tell he's ready for more intensive potty training.  He's 18 months now.
• All potty time is good.  So even if you're only catching one pee a day, that's still helping baby get used to the potty.  Focus on the positives of catches and don't worry about the misses.  It's all a learning process and it's all helpful.  Keep it light and fun.  Don't push too hard.

Hope that helps!    

[seraf]

I love to talk about ec. The basics are that humans communicate and babies eliminate a LOT.

There in a forum on here, which is great, IMO, but sincepeople post more when they have troubles, it frequently looks like ec is hard.

EC is fun. It's awesome to realize a tiny baby is telling you something and you can understand it. I agree that EC can easily be set aside if you are having any troubles. I found EC to be a compliment to nursing. One of the earliest signs is when a nursing baby pulls off the breast. I found it really frustrating until I realized that offering a tinkle or poo got the nursing session back on track.

Basic signs:

Most babies need to go shortly after waking or feeding.

Sometime while feeding they may pop on and off the breast or go into a blank stare.

Sometimes they go from happy or calm to suddenly fussy when they need to go.

Sometimes boys go just because the cold air hits them during a diaper change.

Sometimes you get the mysterious sensation of hot liquid running across your lap, but you're dry.

It's like a detective game. If you start early you have more opportunities to hone your skills.

I think it's easiest to leave the baby without bottoms on a towel piece or prefold on my lap. This will be my first winter baby, so I'm not sure how that will work out.

[A-time-to-live]

 We did part-time/'low maintenance' EC with DD.  Basically she sat on the potty first thing in the morning and after naps starting at age 5 months.  We used the little Baby Bjorn potty.  As we got closer to "ready" for potty learning she sat/eliminated on the potty more frequently.  It was great.  She was potty trained shortly after 2 without much effort. I think she actually was basically night-trained much earlier but we were nervous about leaving diapers off over night for awhile.

[ruby3bears]

Hello all,

We did part-time EC with our baby boy (just turned 1) from 3 months until about 9 months (last September), when for some reason I can't remember I failed to do it at all for just a few days and he since has quit completely. Since then if I try to hold him in a squat over anything, sit him on the toilet or the bjorn potty, or even stand him by the sink he will squirm and not go. Then 2 minutes later he will pee or poop on the floor. Any ideas? I don't know how to get him back into it if I can't even get him into position! He was never a good signaller, but he is communicating so well right now about other things I figure we should be able to EC.

thanks,

krista